WebProNews

At YouTube, there was always the unseen establishment - some system of people and machines that kept things running and yanked the occasional video.  And then there were the masses - users who didn’t seem to have much of a voice.  YouTube’s now elevated some of those users to the YouTube Community Council, though.

This Community Council is a newly created organization that’s intended to bridge the gap between YouTube’s users and the company itself.  As described in a post on YouTube’s blog, it “consists of a handful of volunteers (who will rotate every six months) eager to share their opinions about the site and the community with us on a consistent basis.”

Issues of physical location may arise (this first group gathered in San Bruno), and there are sure to be arguments about the YouTube Community Council’s objectivity.  But on the whole, this is at least a well-meaning step forward.  “Other communities might do well to heed the actions of YouTube and institute similar systems,” notes Mark Hopkins.

The first five members of the Community Council are known on YouTube as “bgirl5,” “bradofarrell,” “sarrycrey,” “tlg847,” and “visiblemode.”  If you’d like to get a spot of your own in the future, YouTube is entertaining submissions.